The dark love behind A Ring of Bright Water - Telegraph The dark love behind A Ring of Bright Water Kathleen Raine fell in love with Gavin Maxwell By Chris Hastings, Arts Correspondent 12:01AM BST 11 Sep 2005 His novel Ring of Bright Water sold more than a million copies and inspired one of the best-loved British films of all time. Letters donated to the British Library reveal, however, that Gavin Maxwell was a dysfunctional Peter Pan figure who eschewed adult company and was happiest when he was alone with the otters that inspired his most famous book. The correspondence between Maxwell and the poet Kathleen Raine reveals that his refusal to requite her deep love for him threatened to destroy their friendship. Maxwell, as a homosexual, was driven to despair by her advances and even blames one of her tirades for a fire in 1968 that destroyed Sandaig, his beloved Scottish home, and Edal, one of the otters featured in his book. "Whether or not your curse has been responsible for this terrible disaster I don't know or should never know," he wrote. "If it was, I can only say God forgive you...

Your Silver Stag [Raine's description for Maxwell] has indeed fallen - as you willed - and possibly beyond recall. If you really believe in your own powers of destruction you must consider yourself to have been successful at least twice." Related Articles The genius of Gavin Maxwell 04 Jul 2014 Raine, who was one of post-war Britain's most celebrated poets, met Maxwell, the grandson of the Duke of Northumberland, shortly after the Second World War. A mutual love of Northumberland, where they had both grown up, sparked an immediate friendship. Raine, however, soon fell deeply in love with Maxwell and her passion for him, which she would later describe as the most important of her life, inspired several of her best works. By contrast Maxwell, who worked as an instructor with the Special Operations Executive before turning his hand to painting, shark-fishing and ultimately writing, was a near recluse who came to resent the poems he inspired. In 1966 he wrote: "You are a creature of instinct like the creatures of the animal world I love, so why should I hate you for being one of them?

"Canetti [the writer Elias Canetti, a mutual friend] was right that we are poison to each other - to you because I roused destructive intent in you. And to me because it may be that you did destroy a world for me. "The fire and Edal's death had a deeper effect upon me than perhaps even you can understand and I have suffered from shock for a long time. You must understand that my world was so private and guarded and that even they [Raine's poems] represented some intrusion upon it. It was a childhood world and demanded a child to share it. Anything else was a breach in the walls and I am a territorial animal." Raine is unable to tolerate the idea of Maxwell with any other woman even though he tells her that the idea of a heterosexual relationship is out of the question. In 1968 he tells her it is "far too late for him to start liking and understanding any woman". Despite the rows the couple's friendship survived and Raine, one of whose poems inspired the title of his most famous book, was the first person to learn of the cancer that would kill him in 1969. In August of that year he wrote: "For your eyes only please...

well it was borrowed time and not much of it, I have cancer. It is not operable and the time left is short." Maxwell's love for Mijbil, the otter immortalised in Ring of Bright Water, and the 1969 film adaptation that starred Bill Travis and Virginia McKenna, shines through many of his earlier letters to Raine. In 1956 he wrote from Scotland: "I wangled him into my sleeper and he wangled himself into my bed, so passed a pleasant journey. Here he has surpassed my wildest expectations. He comes for long cross-country walks without a lead and is utterly biddable... He is lamentably unable to catch fish or eels - he tries to play with them so of course they escape." Whenever he was parted from the animal Maxwell spent most of his time fretting about its well-being. He wrote: "I travelled back in the hired car from King's Cross thinking 'now the train is moving out of the station... now Mij has spotted the window and forced his way out through it...

Kathleen is struggling to get him by the tail but fails, both Mij and her arm are crushed by an express train coming the other way'." Maxwell's success as a writer seems to have done nothing to ease his financial problems and in 1966 he berates the failure to sell a house which would have "cleared his massive debts". "The sale has fallen through at the 11th hour... and my manager and I are stunned by the outlook." Maxwell, who also wrote The House of Eirig and The Rocks Remain, died at the age of 55 in 1969. Raine, who later became a spiritual adviser to the Prince of Wales, died in 2003 aged 95. Ring of Bright Water (1969) - IMDb IMDb There was an error trying to load your rating for this title. Some parts of this page won't work property. Please reload or try later. X Beta I'm Watching This! Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. Error Ring of Bright Water ( 1969 ) G | Whoever said dog is man's best friend never met Mij!

Mij is a cute, cuddly pet shop otter who captures the heart of Graham Merill (Bill Travers). It doesn't take Graham long to realize that... See full summary » Director: a list of 40 titles created 03 Apr 2011 a list of 144 titles created 15 Jun 2012 a list of 399 titles created 10 Oct 2013 a list of 35 titles created 21 Sep 2014 a list of 100 titles created 24 Apr 2015 Title: Ring of Bright Water (1969) 7.2/10 Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below. You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. Edit Storyline Whoever said dog is man's best friend never met Mij! Mij is a cute, cuddly pet shop otter who captures the heart of Graham Merill (Bill Travers). It doesn't take Graham long to realize that London is no place to raise a slippery otter.

So he takes Mij to live in a ramshackle cottage on the coast of Scotland. Together they set out to explore the curious and magnificent natural wonders that surround their seaside home--from orphaned geese to tooth-less sharks. While Mij spends his days frolicking in the icy cold sea, Graham finds himself falling in love with the beautiful town doctor, Mary (Virginia McKenna). Before long, the three become inseparable friends. Written by Rone Barton Lokarr <sandbox2@netcom.com> The stars, the warmth, the pleasure of Born Free. See more » Genres: 14 May 1970 (Australia) See more » Also Known As: A Baía do Homem Solitário See more » Filming Locations: Did You Know? Trivia Based on the true story of Gavin Maxwell , who bought an otter in Iraq and brought it back to his home in Scotland, only to discover that this was a subspecies of otter not yet recorded. Maxwell gave his name to the new sub species' title: Lutrogale perspicillata maxwelli. See more » Goofs Shortly after moving into the cottage he heads off into the village.

As he closes the otter flap he's wearing wellies. On the way down the hill he's in shoes, but when he arrives in the village he is back in welly boots. See more » Quotes One of the best animal films. ever. 12 February 2009 | by intelearts (the big screen) – See all my reviews Absolutely one of the films that defined a generation - Ring Of Bright Water was a huge success worldwide and is considered by many to be the best animal film. The true story of a divorced insurance actuary who trades London and the 9-5 for Scotland because he bought an otter from a pet shop is simply brilliant. Based on Gavin Maxwell's excellent autobiography it translated very successfully to film. Director Jack Couffer already a long career making classic animal films for Disney and had obviously never heard W C Field's famous line about never working with animals of children...here he adapted to a British sensibility and we end up with a film that is not sappy but rather genuinely magic. The cinematography by Walter Suschitsky is outstanding.

Suschitsky went on to film the original Get Carter (....And not a lot of people know that ) The humans are great, but the otter (and other wildlife: the geese!) are truly amazing and lift this from ordinary to extraordinary. Maxwell actually bought the otter back from Iraq and it was discovered to be new subspecies which named by the London Zoological Society in his honour Lutrogale perspicillata maxwelli. If you vaguely remember seeing this first time round you'll definitely want to see it again, if you haven't I promise you'll see something you won't easily forget - it is charming in the best sense with Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna at their understated British best. Both heartwarming and heartbreaking: it is the otter and the beautiful settings that you'll remember. One of our favourites ever. 8 of 8 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes Ring of Bright Water: gavin maxwell: Amazon.com: Books Ring of Bright Water Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought Page 1 of 1 Start over Page 1 of 1 This shopping feature will continue to load items.

In order to navigate out of this carousel please use your heading shortcut key to navigate to the next or previous heading. Customers Who Viewed This Item Also Viewed Page 1 of 1 Start over Page 1 of 1 This shopping feature will continue to load items. In order to navigate out of this carousel please use your heading shortcut key to navigate to the next or previous heading. Next Special Offers and Product Promotions Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here , or download a FREE Kindle Reading App . New York Times best sellers Browse the New York Times best sellers in popular categories like Fiction, Nonfiction, Picture Books and more. See more Product Details Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.2 x 0.7 inches Shipping Weight: 4 ounces on February 19, 2012 Format: Paperback Verified Purchase I read this book many years ago and felt I needed to read it again; I think this book has become a classic. This is the story of a man's love for his two otters, Mijbil and Edal plus all else in nature. I enjoyed the beginning descriptions of northwest Scotland.

Mr Maxwell's land was located on the mainland but Gavin could view Skye and the Hebrides from his home. Camusfearna was the name he gave his house (not it's real name) and a little eden it was. It was surrounded by beautiful hills. In this place Gavin could live in nature which was his desire. He was wealthy so did not need to work. He could pursue his interests plus write. He was lucky that he could follow his dreams. This book is his most popular and his word pictures show readers much about this beautiful section of Scotland. His writings about the surrounding ocean and its occupants are good. Plus he also writes about seeing the northern lights and how he was affected by seeing the lights. When Gavin Maxwell was very young he enjoyed hunting, a sport I do not like because I like animals. He found a young wildcat and shot birds to feed this animal though he states he didn't like killing birds. He wanted to keep the cat alive. Possibly the cat could eat something different than birds. Dog feed perhaps. At one time Maxwell went with another man to kill foxes that were killing the other man's new born lambs. The two, plus the dogs, killed a whole fox family.

Foxes, plus other preditors, also like to kill fawns. Mr. Maxwell lived in the cottage with his dog Jonny. Jonny was getting old, became sick, died. Gavin was lost without an animal. For some reason, he felt he should adopt an otter. He never wanted another dog. Jonny was special. mudcat.org: Lyr Req: Ring of Bright Water Date: 16 Sep 01 - 01:58 AM Ring of Bright Water He has married me with a ring, a ring of bright water Whose ripples travel from the heart of the sea, He has married me with a ring of light, the glitter Broadcast on the swift river. He has married me with the sun's circle Too dazzling to see, traced in summer sky. He has crowned me with the wreath of white cloud That gathers on the snowy summit of the mountain, Ringed me round with the world-circling wind, Bound me to the whirlwind's centre.

He has married me with the orbit of the moon And with the boundless circle of stars, With the orbits that measure years, months, days, and nights, Set the tides flowing, Command the winds to travel or be at rest. ï¿½ Spirit, or angel troubling the pool, Causality not in nature, Finger's touch that summons at a point, a moment Stars and planets, life and light Or gathers cloud about an apex of gold, Transcedent touch of love summons my world into being. From a website which takes the above from the index page of a book called Ring of Bright Water by Gavin Maxwell. It's also been made into a movie of the same name. It probably isn't the information Susan wanted, but it's a start Date: 16 Sep 01 - 02:03 AM I looked up Steve Gillette's web-page , and it didn't list such a song. From: Ferret Date: 17 Sep 01 - 06:24 PM Has any one got the lyric for 'Ring of Bright Water' by Betty Bolley. Music by Frank Gordell. recorded by Val Doonican in the 1960's.

it's not the same as the one above. all the best ferret From: beadie Date: 18 Sep 01 - 12:05 PM A somewhat different version (as I recall) was recorded by Glenn Yarborough, late of the Limelighters, in the mid 60's. As the movie involved a river otter as one of the main characters, it seems entirely appropriate for you to be looking for this piece, Ferret. From: beadie Date: 18 Sep 01 - 02:55 PM The Yarbrough version appeared on the album, "It's Gonna Be Fine" in 1965. Its still available through collectible album websites, occasionally paired with another album, "Baby, the Rain Must Fall." As I recall, the first line of this version was, "I will marry you with a ring of bright water." Date: 19 Sep 01 - 04:41 PM Beadie Well is a kindred spirit.

All the best ferret From: Lin in Kansas Date: 24 Oct 01 - 03:16 PM And here's Glenn Yarbrough's version of Ring of Bright Water, from my newly found stash of ancient LPs. Not by Steve Gillette, though, so wouldn't swear to this being the one originally requested... Lin by Tom Campbell; arranged & conducted by Perry Botkin, Jr. Performed by Glenn Yarbrough on "It's Gonna Be Fine," RCA LSP 3472 (SPRS 4519) ï¿½ Radio Corporation of America 1965 I would marry you with a Ring of Bright Water, Whose ripples travel from the heart of the sea. I'd marry you with a ring of light along the swift river, I would marry you with a Ring of Bright Water. I would marry you with a boundless circle of stars, To measure out the days and nights, the months and the years. I'd ring you round with the moon above that sets the tides to glowin', Oh I would marry you with a boundless circle of stars.

And I would marry you with the sun's bright circle, And trace it in the summer sky, too dazzling to see, And crown you with the clouds that gather round the snowy mountains, Oh, I would marry you with the sun's bright circle. I would marry you with a Ring of Bright Water, Whose ripples travel from the heart of the sea. I'd marry you with a ring of light along the swift river. I would marry you with a Ring of Bright Water. Date: 12 Mar 07 - 12:10 AM From memory Ring of Bright Water (theme from the movie sung by Val Doonican) Where sun and wind play on a ring of bright water Thats where my heartland will be The deer on the hill in the first snows of winter the gull in the sky flying free I wandered away from the dark crowded city, Leaving my old life behind, And I came to a place where a ring of bright water, Dazzled all cares from my mind.

So I live with the wonder of the sky and the sea And I'll always remember who revealed them to me But now you are gone with your whirlpools of laughter Leading me down to the sea But I'll always smile when a ring of bright water Echoes your laughter to me. (key change) Date: 14 Apr 07 - 09:08 PM I came across this thread whilst surfing and hope you don't mind my posting. Further to the lyrics provided above; these are the lyrics as I perceived them from a Val Doonican record and the film DVD. There are only minor changes to the version listed above, but they seem to scan better, and are the words I have been singing to my children. RING OF BRIGHT WATER Where sun and wind play on a ring of bright water That's where my heartland will be The deer on the hill in the first snow of winter the gull in the sky winging free I wandered away from the dark crowded city, Leaving my old life behind, And came to a place where a ring of bright water, Dazzled the care from my mind.

So I live with the wonder of the sky and the sea And I'll always remember who revealed them to me But now you are gone with your whirlpools of laughter Racing me down to the sea But I always smile when a ring of bright water Echoes your laughter to me. (key change) But now you are gone with your whirlpools of laughter Racing me down to the sea But I always smile when a ring of bright water Echoes your laughter to me. Echoes your laughter to me This was the first film I remember seeing as a small boy (about 4 years old) and I still watch it now. If anybody knows where I can get the music for the song from, please reply and send a email to tim.lawrence@tesco.net That would be much appreciated. From: GUEST Date: 28 Nov 07 - 06:51 AM Found your query whilst surfing so hope you don't mind me butting in although I am several months late! I have the Val Doonican recording of Ring of Bright Water on a very old tape of his greatest hits, bought specifically for this song. I've just played it again to double check the lyrics which I know so well.

Tim ( your guest posting of 14th April) was spot on with the lyrics he has supplied. If anyone wants to purchase a copy of a CD with this song on it, then Amazon are currently selling 'His Special Years - Val Doonican', (released July 1999) a 2 disc set @ ï¿½7.98.It appears there are also several used and new copies available via their site @ï¿½4.65. Happy listening! Date: 28 Mar 08 - 07:41 AM Hi Folks, OK so if I were looking for a song (which I'm not), I'd probably try a program like Limewire and simply type in the song title and let it do a search. If I were to do this (which I am not) I would probably come across around 20 sites referencing one version of the song and quite possibly at least one site referencing the Val Doonican version of the song (which I didnt).

Of course it would be wise to check things out because the more readily available version may not play correctly of may be otherwise dangerous to your PC (I use a Mac) but there may be other versions of the song listed on Limewire and you could try downloading them in the spirit of scientific research (of course). If you found that there arent enough sources to download the file/s I suggest you try again tomorrow or in a day or two. Persistence will be its own reward (As I have discovered at other times looking for legit audio sources as recommended on Amazon etc) Cheers, Gavin Maxwell: the life of the man who wrote Ring of bright water - Douglas Botting - Google Books Gavin Maxwell: the life of the man who wrote Ring of bright water What people are saying - Write a review We haven't found any reviews in the usual places.

Contents The House on the Moor 3 45 other sections not shown Common terms and phrases Andrew animal Arab Arisaig arrived asked Avalon Aymer basking shark beautiful began Beryl birds boat Bright Water burn Camusfearna creatures dark death Edal Edal's eider Eilean Ban Elrig eyes feel felt film fish Gavin Maxwell Gavin returned Gavin wrote Glenelg harpoon hills human interviews Isle Ornsay Jimmy Watt Kathleen Raine killed knew Kyleakin Kyleakin Island later Lavinia lighthouse living London Longman looked Mallaig Marrakesh Marsh Arabs marshes Maxwell's Mijbil miles Monreith months morning Morocco never night once Ornsay otter Paultons Square person Peter Janson-Smith Peter Scott Raef Payne realised recalled Richard Frere Ring of Bright rock Sandaig Scopello seemed Skye Soay summer Teko Terry Nutkins Thesiger things thought told took Tormor turned walk wanted weeks whisky wild Wilfred Thesiger wind winter write young About the author (1994) Douglas Botting is a writer, journalist, and biographer whose interests include travel, exploration, wild places, and conservation matters.

His previous works include Gerald Durrell: The Authorized Biography, The Saga of Ring of Bright Water: The Enigma of Gavin Maxwell, as well as several travel guides. He lives near London. Bibliographic information Gavin Maxwell's bitter legacy: Was the otter man the wildlife champion he appeared to be? | The Independent Profiles Gavin Maxwell's bitter legacy: Was the otter man the wildlife champion he appeared to be? The aristocrat wrote a best-selling memoir about the life he lived in Sandaig with his pet otters, and his eccentric devotion to them inspired a generation. But our greatest living nature writer believes his legacy has been quite toxic Saturday 12 July 2014 23:00 BST Click to follow The Independent Online Gavin Maxwell in Sandaig with one of his pet otters Gavin Maxwell Enterprises As I walk down a forest path on the coast of north-west Scotland, my heart is beating fast. It's not so much the physical effort – the way is not steep – but my sense of expectation that is causing this effect. What I am about to see is a near-mythical place, one I have read so much about and visited so often in my dreams, but never in reality.

Soon the view opens up and what appears in front of me is a little bay of sand and sea encircled by trees and a stream, a sublime composition of natural elements that has become famous the world over as the setting for Ring of Bright Water, Gavin Maxwell's best-selling memoir about the life he lived here with his pet otters. The book was published in 1960 and, like millions of other readers, I feel it has shaped my view of nature. Now I have come to Sandaig, a wild and isolated spot overlooking the Sound of Sleat to Skye, to see the site of this saga for myself. It is a timely moment to reflect on Maxwell's legacy. This Tuesday marks the centenary of his birth, and the occasion seems ripe to re-examine the sometimes-controversial reputation of both the man and his most celebrated book. Read in isolation, Ring of Bright Water paints a poetic and moving picture of a period in Maxwell's life which he later came to regard as a lost paradise.

The story recounts how in 1948, aged 34, he had been offered the use of an empty lighthouse-keeper's cottage at Sandaig as a bolthole to which he could escape for holidays with his springer spaniel, Jonnie. His evocative descriptions of life in his Highland home are now part of the literary canon, but it was the magical story of the relationships he formed with three otters which made his bewitching back-to-nature memoir a sensational bestseller. Maxwell's otter odyssey began in 1956, when he set off on a journey to explore the marshes of southern Iraq with the explorer Wilfred Thesiger. There he adopted his first otter, a tiny cub he called Chahalla. Maxwell lavished this baby animal with all his affection and was desolate when it died just a few days later. To console him, Thesiger found him another otter to take home, a squirming velvet ball "the colour of milk chocolate", which Maxwell christened Mijbil.

After an eventful flight, Gavin arrived in England with his new pet and they began the year of happy adventures together in London and Scotland that form the heart of his classic book. "Into this bright, watery landscape Mij moved and took possession with a delight that communicated itself as clearly as any articulate speech could have done," he wrote. "The waterfall, the burn, the white beaches and the islands; his form became the familiar foreground to them all." The otter man's empire The otter man's empire 1/6 The otter man's empire Jimmy Watt, who joined Maxwell as a keeper at 15 and eventually inherited his literary estate, is joined in the boat by Edal Gavin Maxwell Enterprises 2/6 The otter man's empire Edal hunting at Sandaig.

The otter later died in a house fire and her remains were buried across the meadow from Maxwell himself Gavin Maxwell Enterprises 3/6 The otter man's empire The house at Sandaig that was destroyed in a fire Gavin Maxwell Enterprises 4/6 The otter man's empire Edal adopts the pose of a Modigliani print, at home Gavin Maxwell Enterprises 5/6 The otter man's empire Gavin Maxwell loads a harpoon: he wrote about bagging basking sharks in his book 'Harpoon at a Venture' Getty Images 6/6 The otter man's empire One of Gavin Maxwell's self-portraits Gavin Maxwell Enterprises But Ring of Bright Water is not a children's story; rather it reads like a dark fairy tale, and the account of Mijbil's murder by a road-mender with a pickaxe on a lonely Scottish lane is one of the most heartbreaking moments of modern literature. Maxwell was away at the time, and had to piece together the story from village reports: "Mij had been on his way home when he had met Big Angus, and he had never been taught to fear or distrust any human being.

I hope he was killed quickly, but I wish he had had one chance to use his teeth on his killer." The salvation that comes when fate brings Maxwell another otter, Edal, gives the book a narrative arc that even the most carefully constructed fiction would be hard pushed to match. It's both a tear-jerker and a heart-warmer, and the numerous photos and drawings of Maxwell's curious creatures only add to its seductive appeal. Today the book is widely regarded as a literary masterpiece. But the deaths of the animals in Maxwell's care, and the way in which he coveted them as pets, is also at odds with our modern attitude to wild creatures. Richard Mabey, author of Food for Free and our greatest living nature writer, agrees that a darker view of Maxwell needs to be put on record. "I read the books [Ring of Bright Water and its two sequels] when I was quite young and I was captivated; he's a good descriptive writer, and the romantic idea of this immersion in a remote hideaway with his menagerie was compelling to me," he says. "But since then I've got a very different view of him.

The fact that he was, by literally all accounts, an extremely unpleasant man, I think is neither here nor there. It's more what I now feel about his writing about animals, and his treatment of animals. I feel that his legacy has really been quite toxic. He seems to me to be part of that period which was all about developing a relationship with wild animals that was appropriative; that the way to understand them was to domesticate them, imprison them, tame them and keep them as pets. And I think that because his writing is so seductive in its glitter, he helped to perpetuate that idea into the current era. So when I see the compulsion among a certain type of naturalist to hold wild animals, to have them in their grip – you see it all the time on TV – I'm uncomfortable about that. It's not the kind of relationship that we need, in our ecological maturity, to develop with wild creatures." Mijbil hunting at Sandaig.

The otter later died in a house fire and her remains were buried across the meadow from Maxwell himself (Gavin Maxwell Enterprises) It's fair to say that Maxwell, who was a keen student of Freud, had himself questioned the reasons for his strong bond with animals, and had traced the origins back to his unusual childhood. The son of the heir to a Scottish baronetcy, he was born only three months before his father was killed in the opening offensives of the First World War. His mother, Lady Mary Percy, a daughter of the Duke of Northumberland, was distraught, and sought solace in the adoration of her baby son. Gavin shared his mother's bed until he was eight years old, and later recalled his separation from her to go to boarding school as one of the most shattering events of his life. From this point on, Gavin saw himself as an outsider – the fatherless baby on a quest to find the warmth and security he had lost as a child. This feeling that he was somehow different lasted his whole life and manifested itself in various colourful ways. He was a fair, blue-eyed man of medium build who liked to wear a kilt and to keep his cigarettes in his sporran.

Early on he developed a passion for fast cars (he once owned a Maserati racing car converted for road use) and was a first-rate shot and gun expert. He drank heavily (whisky), and was attracted to danger and adventure. His awareness of his homosexuality and his attempts to repress it only toughened him the more, making him determined to prove himself a man of action. His chance came when war broke out in 1939. Maxwell joined the Scots Guards, but was soon seconded to the undercover Special Operations Executive in Scotland, where he trained resistance fighters in the use of firearms (he had a trick of shooting ping-pong balls in mid-air during games of table tennis). When the war ended, he continued his pursuit of action-man status by setting himself up as a shark hunter off the coast of Skye, but the business failed when the figures didn't stack up. The house at Sandaig that was destroyed in a fire (Gavin Maxwell Enterprises) Not all was lost, however, since Maxwell's experience of hunting basking sharks – leviathans measuring up to 8m in length – provided the material for his first book, Harpoon at a Venture (1952).

It immediately established his reputation as a romantic writer who laced his lyrical descriptions with a hefty dose of gloom and gore. "Harpoon at a Venture is about as far from consolatory nature writing as can be," says Robert Macfarlane, author of The Wild Places and a scholar of the genre. "That's what makes it, and Ring of Bright Water, so fascinating. They represent, in their psycho-dramas, their sublimated sexuality, their flares of misanthropy and their visionary violence, part of the dark side of British nature-memoir and landscape writing." But as well as craving adventure, Gavin also sought someone or something on which to lavish his affection. Although he had several relationships with younger men – his taste, he said, was "for youth and beauty" – his eternal adolescence made it impossible to sustain these relationships for long. Instead it was with otters, at the age of 41, that he finally found the kind of love he had been searching for – a love he called a "compensatory passion" for his pain. In Ring of Bright Water, Maxwell described this feeling as "a thraldom to otters, an otter fixation".

He realised, he wrote, that Mijbil meant more to him than most human beings he knew, and he was not ashamed of it. Kathleen Raine, the poet with whom Maxwell formed a tempestuous friendship and from whose poem the line "ring of bright water" comes, referred to Mijbil as "our animal-child". And when Maxwell briefly married, his wife even talked about producing "a cub" for him, although there never was a baby. It was the tragedy of Gavin Maxwell's life that Ring of Bright Water was both his greatest moment and the destroyer of his idyll. Suddenly he was famous – the book eventually sold more than a million copies – and people found their way to his sanctuary and shattered his peace. Edal adopts the pose of a Modigliani print, at home (Gavin Maxwell Enterprises) They also brought him animals; he was initially pleased to have Teko, the male otter who became as famous as Edal, but his home quickly turned into a menagerie.

Over the eight remaining years of his life he lurched from one crisis to another: Teko and Edal savaged their keepers (Terry Nutkins, later a TV naturalist, lost two fingers) and had to be fenced in; Maxwell squandered all his new-found wealth on fast cars, boats, booze and two storm-lashed islands; and finally, and worst of all, in January 1968 the house at Sandaig was destroyed in a fire during which Edal was burnt to death in her enclosure. All of this – including his disastrous 15-month marriage – Maxwell chronicled in two sequels to Ring of Bright Water before he succumbed to lung cancer in 1969 at the age of only 55. At the time of Maxwell's death, he was fixed in the public imagination as the cuddly otter man, as portrayed by Bill Travers in the loosely adapted film version of Ring of Bright Water released in 1969. The actress Virginia McKenna, co-founder of the Born Free Foundation which campaigns against keeping wild animals in captivity, starred alongside her husband in the film. Looking back, what does she think now about Maxwell and his otters?

"It's difficult, she says, "because there was this huge love Gavin had for animals. I suppose there was a conflict in him, knowing that some day they ought to go free – and he did let some go. But he was like a man in two parts; the bit of him that adored nature and the wild creatures, the other part that needed this relationship with them, maybe because he didn't have many fulfilling human relationships." The movie image of a jovial Maxwell and his spirited girlfriend gradually became tarnished as three books were published that revealed a more truthful picture. First, in 1976, the writer's friend Richard Frere published a memoir, Maxwell's Ghost, which publicly exposed Gavin's homosexuality for the first time. It also reported the violent rows and bitter fallings-out between Maxwell and his young otter keepers. More sensational was Kathleen Raine's memoir, The Lion's Mouth, published in 1977. Although Maxwell had alluded to the part she played in some of the most critical moments of his life, no one could have guessed at the more outlandish details.

She revealed how she had been in love with him and how, when he cruelly ejected her from Sandaig one night, she had laid a curse on him. "Let Gavin suffer here, as I have suffered," went her invocation. By a cruel twist of fate, it then became Raine who caused Maxwell's greatest suffering when she allowed Mijbil to run wild on the night he was killed. "I myself became the agent of the vengeance I had worked," she wrote. Maxwell found out about Raine's curse much later, and believed it to be the explanation for everything that went wrong in his life, including the devastating fire. Gavin Maxwell loads a harpoon: he wrote about bagging basking sharks in his book 'Harpoon at a Venture' (Getty Images) An authorised biography of Maxwell by Douglas Botting, published in 1993, celebrated his genius as a writer, but did little to dispel the growing picture of him as an egotistical snob who betrayed his friends, neglected his pets and left a trail of destruction in his wake. There is one person, however, who knew Gavin well and who is prepared to defend his reputation.

Jimmy Watt, who appears as a floppy-haired boy in many of the pictures in Ring of Bright Water, was a 15-year-old school-leaver when he joined Maxwell as an otter keeper in 1958. He remained close to the writer and eventually inherited his estate, including the rights to his books. Now over 70, he lives in Glenelg, close to Sandaig. "One thing I would like to say about Gavin is that if he was a friend of yours, he'd always be there for you," he tells me. "He helped a lot of people, paid for their education, and really looked after them. A lot of it was unsaid and unknown. He was like a father to me, so I have a great deal of affection for him." Watt accepts that our attitude to keeping wild animals has changed, but defends Maxwell's reasons for taking on Edal and Teko. "Both the otters were African; the natives had dug them out of the river banks and given them to the people who brought them to Scotland. They couldn't take them back to Africa, so they were homeless.

"It was different with Mijbil, but the only alternative for Edal and Teko would have been to put them in a zoo. Of course things have changed. I love seeing the wild otters here now, but I wouldn't want them in the house. Outside is where they are happiest." Back on the beach at Sandaig, I'm standing in front of the large boulder that marks the site where Gavin Maxwell's ashes are buried, and where the famous house once stood. It was Jimmy Watt who placed the ashes here, while Kathleen Raine watched from a respectful distance. Just across the meadow is another grave, a cairn erected over the final resting place of Edal. On the morning after the fire, Maxwell asked Richard Frere to bury his precious otter's remains. Frere found her shrunken body, charred and broken, and buried her here, in front of the rowan tree where Kathleen Raine made her curse.

On the cairn is a bronze plaque inscribed with Gavin's words: "Whatever joy she gave to you, give back to Nature." I understand Richard Mabey's reservations about Maxwell's legacy, but as I read these words I can't help thinking of his dazzling descriptions of his happiest days here with Mijbil, and of how Ring of Bright Water so perfectly articulates the need for the human soul to be free. For that alone, I think, Maxwell's greatest work still stands. 'Ring of Bright Water' remains in print (£10, Little Toller Books). A special edition of 200 hand-bound copies, complete with previously unseen pictures, will be published by the Eilean Ban Trust to mark Maxwell's centenary. For more details: eileanban.org Ring of Bright Water (Nature Classics Library): Amazon.co.uk: Gavin Maxwell, John Lister-Kaye: 8601200445923: Books Ring of Bright Water (Nature Classics Library) Add all three to Basket Some of these items are dispatched sooner than the others.

Show details Buy the selected items together This item:Ring of Bright Water (Nature Classics Library) by Gavin Maxwell Paperback Â£12.00 Only 8 left in stock (more on the way). Sent from and sold by Amazon. FREE Delivery in the UK. Details Tarka the Otter (A Puffin Book) by Henry Williamson Paperback Â£6.99 Only 14 left in stock (more on the way). Sent from and sold by Amazon. FREE Delivery on orders over Â£10. Details Watership Down (A Puffin Book) by David Parkins Paperback Â£5.49 In stock. Sent from and sold by Amazon. FREE Delivery on orders over Â£10. Details Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought Page 1 of 1 Start over Page 1 of 1 This shopping feature will continue to load items. In order to navigate out of this carousel please use your heading shortcut key to navigate to the next or previous heading. Enter your mobile number or email address below and we'll send you a link to download the free Kindle App. Then you can start reading Kindle books on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Apple To get the free app, enter your mobile phone number. or Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here , or download a FREE Kindle Reading App . Product details Publisher: Little Toller Books; New edition (31 May 2009) Language: English Product Dimensions: 15.2 x 1.8 x 21.1 cm Average Customer Review: Ad feedback What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item? By A Customer on 27 Sept. 1999 Format: Paperback Ring of bright water is Gavin Maxwell at his best. It is unfair to classify this book in the children category, it is a book for all ages, for it left a great impression on many adults when it was first published, making the real Camusfearna a place of pilgrimage at the time. The book hasn't aged and it still has the same effect on all who read it:it makes you fall in love with the protagonists and envy G. Maxwell's life in Camusferarna.It is a book about a different lifestyle, Gavin Maxwell truly "dropped out" when he found the magical bay of Sandaig.

I visited the area after having read the book more than 10 years ago, and haven't failed since, to return to the Hebrides every year. I am sure children will enjoy this book, but it is from adults I have heard the most complimentary reviews. Maxwell's descriptions of the hebridean landscapes are very evocative and atmospheric. The otters come alive as intelligent and hilarious creatures. Ring of Bright water is a great read, and it'll make you want to drop out as well. Maxwell wasn't a very prolific writer, but his books all have a special quality and reflect his complex life and personality. I have enjoyed all his books very much, but Ring of Bright Water is the most special of them all... Remembering ‘Ring of Bright Water’ | Scotland's Nature Remembering ‘Ring of Bright Water’ Posted on January 22, 2014 by Scottish Natural Heritage Gavin Maxwell, who was born 100 years ago, holds a special place not only in Scottish literature but also in the hearts and minds of animal lovers throughout the world.

He was born in Wigtownshire, three months before his father was killed in the First World War, a grandson to the formidable countryman Sir Herbert Maxwell. Gavin Maxwell, image courtesy of Jimmy Watt A sickly and reclusive child, he hated his public school and was easily distracted at Oxford University, content to roam the local countryside collecting insects and birds’ eggs, wildfowling and looking after animal waifs and strays. He dabbled in journalism and established a collection of wildfowl at the family home. When the Second World War began he became an instructor to Special Operations Executive in the West Highlands, training secret agents to work in occupied countries. Some claim that he would have made a good diplomat but instead Maxwell’s restless spirit was drawn to the Hebrides after the war, where he bought the island of Soay and established an ill-fated basking shark fishery. Although he revelled in the excitement (which he described so vividly in his first book ‘Harpoon at a Venture’ in 1952) the business proved a financial disaster. Maxwell then turned his hand to painting, motor racing, and researching a book about a notorious Sicilian bandit.

In 1956 he accompanied the famous desert explorer Wilfred Thesiger to Iraq; a trip that was to change his life and make him an international, if reluctant, celebrity. It was during his two months with the Marsh Arabs that Maxwell – having been surrounded by pets and orphan animals all his life, acquired a sick young otter. It did not survive, but Thesiger found him another, who was to become the famous Mijbil. The otters were Indian smooth-coated otters, not known to occur so far west and belonging to a new subspecies now named Lutrogale perspicillata maxwelli. Back in Britain, Maxwell based himself at Sandaig, near Glenelg which – ‘because such places should stay in the imagination’ – he chose to call Camusfearna. Sadly a year later Mij strayed from the lonely cottage and, knowing no fear of humans, was mistakenly killed by a local roadman.

The site of Gavin Maxwell’s house which was destroyed in a fire – picture by Ewen Cameron The eloquent book Maxwell wrote of these adventures – ‘Ring of Bright Water’ – was published to international acclaim in 1960 and later made into a hugely popular film. Both the book and the film continue to motivate aspiring conservationists to this day. Ring of Bright Water

Question: Who wrote the book 'Ring of Bright Water’?
Answer: Gavin Maxwell